A Darkness and the Ice Family
by theuone
Summary: Ganter and his siblings live a normal life, but it's about to change. One day, Ganter wakes up to find himself in another place; it's not even the same dimension. Surrounded by dark dragons, Ganter must find a way to survive while his siblings discover a way to bring him back home, but will Ganter be alone in this journey? (indirect sequel to A haunting of the ice family)
1. Chapter 1

(Okay folks, this is my second "ice family" story that I've got in progress. I was working on another "ice family story, but sadly, it's on hold due to difficulty about figuring out the plot. This story, unlike the others, will be separated into chapters, or parts, rather. Due to that, this isn't exactly going to very long, in both chapter length and number of chapters. Although reading A haunting of the ice family may be needed, you can still read this without doing so. Well, enjoy the first part.)

A Darkness and the Ice Family – part one

It was a normal day at the cabin home of Ganter, Careena, and Nuevo. The three ice dragon siblings looked relatively normal, and they felt that way too. All three of them had ice-blue scales, ice-white bellies, blue eyes, silver horns and crests (give or take for Careena, who lacked the crest), but it was their tail tips that helped differentiate them. Careena's tip looked like an icicle, Nuevo's was similar to that of Spyro, and Ganter's tail tip resembled three fan-like horizontal blades with a blue 'orb' in the center.

The trio was now walking back home after a successful hunt; it was nearing sunset, and a cool wind blew through the green meadow where they were.

"So Gant," Careena said, using Ganter's unprefered nickname, "What do you think we should do tonight?"

Out of the three of them, Careena was the eldest, several years older than Ganter, whom was eight. Nuevo was just above four years old, but that was relatively mature enough for him. That was due to the fact that their parents had died before Nuevo was hatched, meaning Ganter had to take care of him until they could go visit Careena, whom was in Warfang during the whole time.

Ganter scowled, "You know I hate that name. Well, anyway, I'm just about ready to drop, that deer sure ran fast."

Nuevo still had energy to spare, "Well, I'm ready to continue doing stuff." Nuevo ran ahead, stopping next to the cabin that was made by cheetahs. They never knew how their parents had gotten the cheetah tribe to build them a home, and might never get to know.

Careena sighed, "That's because me and Ganter did most of the hunting, you're bound to be still full of energy."

Ganter chuckled, "That's to be expected, we've yet to teach him the finer points of hunting, then maybe we can all be exhausted sometime." Careena grinned at him and then looked at Nuevo with a devious smile

Nuevo dipped his head down in defeat as he noticed that his older siblings were planning to give him a hard time in the next few days, and gripped the latch to open the door with a paw, and went inside.

Ganter and Careena looked at each, giving a look of victory, "Well, let's get going." Careena waved her tail as she entered the cabin. Their cabin was made out the spare lumber of the cheetahs; that much was known, and they didn't have many objects inside. Instead, they preferred to stay outside as often as possible.

Ganter followed, and soon came to a stop as he reached his bed. Abruptly, and purposely, he dropped onto the bedding, not want to keep his aching legs waiting any longer. Careena, seeing this, gasped, "Ganter, are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just so exhausted." Ganter mumbled, curling up as he started to fall asleep.

Careena sighed and turned to Nuevo, whom had his head rested on his paws, looking at Ganter, "He sure knows how to give us a scare, doesn't he?"

"I guess so, so now what?" Nuevo replied, reluctantly starting to nod off.

"Right now, we rest." Careena yawned, and sat down. Little did either three of them know that their life was about to change. A cold wind blew through the home and circled around Ganter, he didn't know it was happening, but a portal was opening.

The next morning, Ganter awoke on soft grass. Blinking his eyes, slowly, he realized he wasn't at home anymore. Jumping onto his paws, he looked around, panicking; he was in a meadow, much like the one back home, but some bushes were nearby in a tree line; presumably hiding a rabbit burrow. The sun was out, but for some reason, it didn't seem to give him a sort of warmth, instead, it seemed like it to make Ganter feel uneasy.

Turning around, Ganter saw a strange sight; a dark dragoness was staring at him curiously. Her black scales were complete with a dark red underbelly and wing membranes. Her eyes were also red, and her horns reminded him of the famous dragoness Cynder. The tail tip of this dragoness looked like a gold ring, but it didn't connect, instead the two ends pointed out like spears; and there was a dark red gem at the end of her tail.

All in all, Ganter thought this dragoness was rather attractive, and he almost didn't notice that she was running towards him. And before Ganter could say or do anything, he was pushed into the cover of a nearby bush, "Hey!"

His protest wasn't noticed, as the dark dragoness then said harshly while she stood over him, "I don't know who you are, or even what kind of dragon you are, but you can't just stand around looking like an idiot."

Before Ganter could open his snout to respond, she then said something else, "Idle gets you killed."

Ganter kept his snout closed, assuming he'd be cut off again, and the dark dragoness lifted her head up and looked around them. Ganter guessed that she had used some kind of magic to make them invisible, for that a thin cloud for shadows surrounded them.

Once again, this dragoness spoke, "Quickly, my cave isn't far off. If we run, we'll get there without any problems." She waved her double-pointed tail tip as she started to move out back into the meadow, and the gem that was with it glimmered in the sunlight. Confused, Ganter silently followed this strange dragoness; he hoped that she could help him figure out what had just happened to him. And the entire time, he wondered what his brother and sister were thinking about his disappearance.

(Okay, any questions, comments, or such?)


	2. Chapter 2

(Well, about time I uploaded a chapter for something here, I will have some additional stuff at the bottom.)

Part two –

Ganter followed behind the dark dragoness as she led him to her home. Once they entered the cave, the dragoness slapped her tail on the ground and another thin veil of shadows covered the entrance, though it also surprised Ganter a bit. The cave itself was void of anything other than a bed made out of dark blue feathers, and Ganter wondered what kind of bird those feathers belonged to.

The dark dragoness spoke again, "Now that we can have some privacy, I'm curious, Mr. Bright-scales, what's your name? Mine is Chimera." She sat down while she spoke, and Ganter decided to do so too.

_Chimera, what a lovely name, _Ganter found himself thinking, "Err, my name is Ganter, it's nice to meet you."

"Ganter it is, so what kind of dragon are you, I've never seen a dragon like you?" Chimera looked at him intently with her red eyes, as if staring into his soul.

Ganter gave her a completely puzzled look, "Are you serious, you haven't seen an ice dragon before?" He breathed a small blast of cold air to prove his point.

Chimera shrugged her wings, "Nope, you may or may not have noticed, but only dark dragons live here."

Ganter felt his heart sink; most dark dragons were known to be evil, or at least unkind. There were exceptions, but Ganter didn't know of any other than Cynder, and apparently, this dragoness. "So there are only dark dragons here?" Ganter wanted confirmation.

"As far as I've known, you're the only non-dark dragon around." Chimera replied calmly.

"So you live here all alone," Ganter said, looking around the cave, "no friends, no family?"

Chimera's eyes clouded up, and she frowned, "No one." She said simply, though she unfurled and then furled her wings at a thought.

"What about your parents? You must have had parents, or what about a sibling?" Ganter asked, completely in disbelief.

The dark dragoness let out a small barking type of laugh, "You really aren't from around here. In case you didn't know, parents don't stay with their children; we have to fend for ourselves."

"What!? That sounds horrible, why do they do that?" Ganter couldn't believe his ears, and his claws dug into the ground hearing something that sounded so vile.

Chimera sighed, "You see, large families tend to get attacked, most dragons don't like it when there is a large group of closely knit people. They feel threatened by the possibility that there will be a family that can do whatever they want, so other dark dragons will team up, being the only occasion they'd do so, just to get rid of said family. In other words, just about everyone here is a loner to some extent."

Ganter just stared back at Chimera, unblinking, unsure of how to comprehend all of that, "I take it you are an only child?"

Chimera dipped her head down sadly, "No, I had a sister." She said slowly.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Ganter replied sadly.

Chimera soon changed the subject, "So, how did you get here?" The dark dragoness's voice sounded suspicious.

"I haven't got a clue," Ganter shrugged his wings, "I hope Nuevo and Careena are alright." He then said softly.

Chimera nodded curiously, but had also heard the last part, "Nuevo and Careena? Who are they?"

Ganter looked back up at the dragoness, "My brother and sister."

"Oh?" Chimera raised an eye ridge, "What are they like?"

"Well, Nuevo is a bit of a hatchling at heart, he hardly ever doesn't want to have fun. Careena can be a bit pushy, but she just wants to make sure everything is alright. She's almost as responsible as our parents." Ganter smiled, remembering the good days.

"They sound interesting, what about your parents?" Chimera asked.

That made Ganter frown, "They're dead." He said bluntly.

"Oh," Chimera then changed the conversation again, "I bet you want to get home to them, don't you?"

Ganter perked up hearing this, "With all my heart."

Chimera giggled hearing this, and looked out of the cave, "Well, I do have an idea about where to start." She then turned around and looked Ganter in his blue eyes. The look in her red eyes made him gulp nervously.

Meanwhile, Careena woke up from her sleep, and looked around. She soon noticed Ganter wasn't in his bed, and she blinked. "Ganter?" She asked quietly, and looked around. Ganter's bed looked undisturbed, as if he hadn't gotten up out of it, and the cabin door was closed; it would normally be open if he was out, so this worried Careena, especially since Ganter would have woken them up if something happened.

She soon walked over to Nuevo's bed, unsure what Ganter might have done, or had happen to him, "Hey Nuevo, wake up." Careena nudged her youngest brother with a paw.

"Let me sleep in longer. You're just going to make me work on hunting all day." Nuevo mumbled with his eyes still closed.

"Change of plans, Ganter is missing." Careena replied.

That woke Nuevo up, "What? Where'd he go?" Nuevo looked around, but saw no signs of his older brother.

"That's just it, it doesn't look like he went anywhere, it's as if he just vanished." Careena started to worry.

Nuevo gave her a curious look, "Is this some kind of prank; try to have me search for Ganter? Because if so, it's not funny."

"Nuevo, this is not a prank, he is genuinely missing." Careena was sure of it, something was wrong.

( I feel like there will be a question about the situation so far, but i'll let you guys address that. Anyway, I forgot to do this last chapter, a little note about my progress-to-be: I plan to update Wings of Fire The Dark Animus next, and then Spyro and the Polar Burns. I have no idea as for Spyro's Universal Adventures, and Spyro and the Spells can wait. So what do you think of this so far?)


	3. Chapter 3

(you know how I said about updating my other stories first? I think I've changed my mind, I guess I will finish this off first. Enjoy)

Part 3 –

Careena paced around the cabin as she looked for a clue about Ganter's whereabouts.

"What are we going to do?" Nuevo asked worriedly, looking outside across their meadow.

Careena took a deep breath, "He's obviously not inside, so let's go fly around and see if he went somewhere."

As the duo went outside, they could already tell Ganter wasn't around; there wasn't a sign of him being anywhere. Careena was worried; what had happened to Ganter for him to disappear so completely?

After a few hours of searching with no sign of him in sight, Nuevo walked over to Careena and asked, "What are we going to do now?"

"I'm not sure, I wish we had some way of finding him." Careena dipped her head down with a sigh. The two continued to venture around the meadow and surrounding hills and forests, hoping they would still find their brother.

After a short while, Nuevo went up to Careena again, and said, "I have an idea."

"Yeah?" Careena was open to suggestions by now.

"Maybe we should go to Warfang, if he's not there, we could at least ask for help." Nuevo said proudly, thinking it was a good idea.

Careena brightened up, "Yeah, we can't do this all on our own, maybe we can find something that can search for Ganter."

After that, they made the flight to Warfang, which took only a few hours. When they arrived at the gates, they nodded to the mole, Mason, and entered. Without wasting time, the two ice dragon siblings flew to the guardians chambers.

While they had surprised all four of them, it was Cyril who had first relaxed, and said, "Ahh, Careena, good to see you again. And your youngest brother too."

Careena dipped her head down respectingly, "Yeah, it's good to see you again."

"So what brings you back here? I thought you two and Ganter were living all together at your home." Terrador asked.

"Yeah, where is Ganter anyway?" Volteer looked around.

"We don't know, he just vanished into thin air during the night, its as if he simply left." Nuevo explained.

"Really? That is strange. Have you found any clue as to where he might have left?" Ignitus asked.

"No, like Nuevo said, its as if he just disappeared, he would have told us, or did something, if he went somewhere. But no, there is nothing about where or what Ganter is doing. I'm acually rather worried; he can be so headstrong and selfless time to time, so he can get into all kinds of trouble without someone around." Careena replied.

"That is troubling, you three are so closely bonded, this is unusual." Cyril had always felt like a third parent to Careena, having trained her to be a guardian before Ganter had arrived to meet them.

"It would seem that you need something to find him. I do recall an artifact that can summon someone from where ever they are." Terrador said thoughtfully.

Careena perked up, "There is something that can do that?"

"Yes, but unfortunatly, it is buried in a cave under the city." Ignitus replied.

"Then lets go get it." Nuevo flapped his wings, ready to get it.

"Hold up, young one, it's not so simple. The cave is very unstable, and the slightest wrong move could make it collapse even more." Volteer interjected.

"We don't care," Careena said determinedly, "I don't know what the deal is with Ganter's absense, but I know it in my heart, he isn't safe."

Cyril gave a nod of understanding, "You three truly are close, I haven't ever seen a family so bonded like the three of you."

Ignitus let out a chuckle, "Indeed, I think it has to do with the fact that all they have is each other, and that they have all lived together for years."

"Well, I guess that we should bring you to the cave entrance. Be warned though, it may not be safe for the two of you." Terrador spoke up.

Careena nodded, certain that she was willing to go ahead with it, and that whatever was the deal with Ganter, he needed help. Looking at Nuevo, she smiled as her youngest brother nodded, and the two of them looked at the guardians; they were ready.

Meanwhile, Ganter sat down, watching Chimera pace around her cave, thinking about something. "Okay, Ganter. There is an amulet of sorts, it can allow the holder to open portals."

Ganter raised an eye ridge, "Really, where is it?"

Chimera gave out a sigh, "That's the hard part, its hidden in a market."

"Wait, hold up, I thought you said dark dragons here don't like large groups." Ganter interrupted.

"They don't, but once in a while, someone will find something and if they don't want it, they take it to the market, and trade it for something they do want. You'll see once we get to the market that its rather quiet there, and that there isn't exactly much interacting." Chimera explained.

"Okay, so what's so hard about getting the amulet?" Ganter asked curiously.

Chimera stopped and gave him an incredulous stare, "Your scales; you are completely out of place here. The first sight of you, and everyone will go claw you up."

Ganter gulped, "Uhh, so in other words, they'll kill me just because im not a dark dragon."

"Exactly, however, I do have a plan to change that." Chimera resumed walking around.

"One question, why do you keep walking around?" Ganter asked.

"I like to think that I do most of my thinking on my paws." Chimera replied.

"Okay, so what's this plan of your's, turn me invisible?" Ganter pondered.

"No, that wouldn't work out, you'd be surprised on how well we dark dragons can see. Instead, I know of a way to make you fit in, but it might be dangerous." Chimera said thoughtfully.

Ganter shifted his paws around nervously, "And how dangerous is this plan?"

"Well, its not physically dangerous, more like mentally." Chimera said back.

"So, what exactly is this plan then, or are you stalling." Ganter asked, worried.

Chimera took a deep breath and said, "I was hoping to get you to back out, you seem so innocent. Anyway, I have a spell, it can change the type of dragon you are, but unfortunatly, there is a side effect. The spell may affect your personality too; are you sure you want to go ahead with this?"

Ganter stood up, "I guess there is no other way for me to get home?"

Chimera shook her head, "Not as far as I know."

Ganter nodded then, "Alright, if I have no choice, then do this spell."

Chimera was surprised, "Hmm, if you insist, but do know, I warned you."

Chimera looked Ganter in his blue eyes, and flapped her wings once strongly, and to Ganter's surprise, a dark mist surrounded her red wing membranes. When the mist faded away, he could see that Chimera's wings were now covered in dark blue feathers. Ganter's eyes peaked back at Chimera's bed, which were covered in feathers of the same color.

But before Ganter could ask her about the feathers, she said, "Now hold still, this might prick a little." She put her right paw on his ice-white chest, and he resisted to urge to pull back as a dark mist started to cover him. The shadows covered Ganter, but he didn't feel like he was choaking or anything, instead, he felt alright.

The shadows soon faded and Chimera beamed, "Looks like that was a success, I guess I did it right. You should see yourself."

Ganter blinked, and Chimera pointed to a small puddle with her tail. Walking over to it, he gasped in surprise; his scales were no longer ice-blue, but black. However, his belly, wing membranes, crest, horns, eyes, and tail tip looked the same as before.

Before Ganter could reply, Chimera said, "Now that this has been settled, let's go get that amulet. Oh, if you feel like you are starting to think differently, tell me instantly, and we'll return here." Chimera started to walk outside, spreading her still-feathered wings. Ganter, speachless, followed behind the dark dragoness, hoping all the while that he would make it out alive.

While Chimera and Ganter were flying out of the cave, a pitch black dragon watched them go by, and he growled; _looks like I have work to do_.


	4. Chapter 4

(Yay for extensive chapters with epic battle scenes, its all below. Oh yeah, a certain song helped me create this: Fight by Icon for Hire, tis good. Enjoy)

Part 4 –

Ganter flew behind Chimera, admiring the landscape; there wasn't any sign of any cities or a war, it was all just nature. It showed just how simple life was in this world, and he smiled at the thought. With his new dark dragon body, it seemed that the sun warmed him now, in comparison to when he first arrived. It felt like a strange paradise to him now, and though he wondered if Chimera's spell was now bringing in the side effects, he kept quiet, wanting to get this amulet and get back to his siblings.

Off in the distance, they soon saw a tan stone market, of which even the ground seemed to be made of the tan-colored stone. Chimera noticing his glance, said, "Legend tells that there used to be a true city underneath the market, and that it was made in between some hills, which could help hide it. Also, a long time ago, something happened, and a stone ceiling was built over it, constructed with magic. And so, the market was contructed."

Ganter nodded, slightly curious about what was hidden under this market. The duo's claws soon landed on the cobblestone ground, and Ganter looked around; it was just as Chimera had said. Several dark dragons were walking around, and one or two gave him a suspicious stare, but walked off without saying anything.

While they walked through the market, Chimera pointed at a dark dragon with green wings and whispered to Ganter, "That's Gladius; him and his brother had a fight some time ago, and haven't spoken since." Chimera then pointed to another dark dragon with purple wings, "And that's Jin, I heard he was training to be an assassin, I don't know why though."

Ganter stayed silent, not wanting to draw attention to himself, but he nodded understandingly, and they continued to walk through the market. Meanwhile, the pitch black dragon from before walked up to Jin, "You see that duo?"

Jin nodded, "Yes."

"Good, you know what to do." With that, the pitch black dragon walked off, and Jin took a deep breath, keeping an eye on the pitch black dragon as he walked off. Jin only went after Chimera and Ganter after he was sure he couldn't see that sword-like tail tip.

Back with Chimera and Ganter, they turned at an alley, which strangely, had a drain for water to flow in.

"Is this where the amulet is?" Ganter looked around, curiously.

"Yeah, it's down there." Chimera pointed at the drain with her tail.

"And how are we supposed to get down there?" Ganter asked, looking down the hole.

"You are a dark dragon now, use your shadow powers." Chimera pointed out.

"And how am I supposed to use them, I've never been a dark dragon before." Ganter replied.

"Okay, think of yourself without a definite shape, imagine you are darkness itself, and let the shadows surround you. Like this." Chimera said, transforming into black smoke, and flowing down the hole. Ganter did as Chimera said, and soon he found himself to have done it. It felt weird, not having a complete body, Ganter wondered what would happen if some of his smoky body drifted away; would he lose his tail, or wings?"

They soon landed on moist ground; and Ganter looked around, "Some legend huh?" It was like Chimera had told him; there was a true city down here. There were numerous buildings, but everything was abandoned, and there was little light down there, but with Ganter's new vision, he could see perfectly fine.

"To be honest, I could have gotten the amulet long ago, but I never had any use for it. I guess hiding it helped in the long run." Chimera walked over to a statue and lifted it up. She then whipped her tail around and the double-pointed spear caught something, tossing it out from under the statue; it was the amulet. It looked like a gold ring with a dark red gem in the middle, and Chimera picked it up, putting it on via a gold chain attached to the amulet, but the amulet only reached the bottom of Chimera's neck, and it didn't swing around with each of Chimera's movements.

At that moment, a shadow fell on them, and its tail tip barely missed Chimera's neck, but Chimera had dodged just in time. When the shadow took a form, she gasped in surprise, "Jin."

Ganter backed away from the other dark dragon, and asked, "What do you want?" He didn't notice how harsh he had said it.

Jin looked at Ganter; his dark blue eyes glared at him, but Ganter thought he could see sadness in them, and Jin spoke, "I have orders to kill you two."

Chimera growled, "And who would that be?" Deep inside, Chimera only knew one dragon that could strike fear into someone and cause that one dragon to take on more than one person.

"I won't tell you." Jin said simply, raising his knife-like tail tip. The tip soon appeared to be a long sword thanks to dark magic, which created dark blue energy to make it look longer.

Ganter gulped, "We don't want to fight you." He kept his distance from Jin's tail.

"I'm sorry, but I have no choice." Jin stabbed his tail in Chimera's direction, but the dark dragoness rolled out of the way.

While Ganter continued to back up, his tail brushed something, and he jumped up in fright, which got the attention of Jin and Chimera. What they saw surprised them; a dragon crawled out of the ground, but it had no flesh, it was only a glowing skeleton. Soon, others followed, and after mere minutes, the three of them were surrounded by dozens of the skeletal dragons.

"Um, would anyone like to call a truce?" Ganter asked, now he and Chimera were no longer backing away from Jin, but now, to Jin. And then, the three of them now stood with their backs to each other.

"I don't know about you two, but I am not so sure we can just fly away." Chimera remarked.

"As much as I would like to just get rid of you two and forget about this all, I guess there would be no reason to refuse help, when we are surrounded by the undead." Jin's voice started to rise with that last part, and a tinge of fear was in it.

One of the skeletons lunged at Jin and he parried with his lengthened tail blade, cutting it into two. A couple more lept at Jin and so he swung his tail again, destroying them as well. And so Jin continued to do this with devastating grace, and Ganter felt he now knew why Jin was a hired assassin, and he felt glad that these skeletons had interfered, otherwise it would be Jin he would have to fight.

Chimera had infused shadow energy into her tail tip, causing the tips to be covered in a pair of blades, and she stabbed her tail into one of the skeletons, impaling it, and flinging it away. She blasted others with her shadow breath, causing the creatures to cease being animated, and fall down in a pile of bones. If a skeleton got to close, Chimera slashed her claws at it, breaking the fragile body.

Ganter had tried to keep his distance, not being used to fighting for his life, but when one of the skeletons got close to him, he swung his tail, knocking it into a wall. Ganter wasn't used to being a dark dragon, and he wasn't sure if he should use his new powers. Multiple skeletons saw his 'weakness', and converged on the former ice dragon. However, Chimera and Jin were still immersed in their own fights, so Ganter was on his own. He let out a growl, hoping to scare off the creatures, but it failed. Ganter had only preformed a fury once before, while Careena was giving him battle training, and Ganter wasn't sure what it would do now, with him being a dark dragon instead of ice. He took a deep breath; the creatures continued to surround him; and Ganter focused his new powers. The dark energy lifted him into the air; he began to be surrounded by shadows, from which he then let it all out. The explosion had annihilated the skeletons around him and Ganter fell to ground, exhausted.

Chimera and Jin had finished their own fights, and then they looked at each other, not sure about what to do next. So Chimera walked over to Ganter and said, "You are quite the dragon, you know that?"

Ganter took a few minutes to get back on his paws, "I guess, all I did was remember what I did with an ice fury, and applied it to my new powers."

Jin walked over to them, keeping his tail blade charged with energy in case he had to fight more, "What's this about 'ice furies'?"

Ganter gulped, but before he could speak, he saw a lone skeleton leap off a building, aiming for jin's neck. Without knowing he did it, Ganter found the strength and intercepted the attack, falling back to the ground in a tumble as he tried to keep his own neck from being broken by the beast's jaws.

While Jin was surprised, Chimera ran over and helped Ganter deal with the remaining skeleton. When they were finished, Jin spoke with complete surprise, "You just saved my life."

Ganter got back on his paws and looked at Jin, whom was obviously dumbfounded by Ganter's selfless act, and he said, "Yeah, that's what friends do. I can tell, you're not so bad, just misguided."

Jin blinked at him curiously; he had never heard of such a thing. "Just who in the world are you?"

"My name is Ganter, and I guess you've met Chimera before." Ganter gestured to the wary dragoness.

Jin frowned, "I think you have some explaining to do, and I would suggest you do, or else I'll finish what I came here to do." He raised his energy-saber-tail-tip threateningly.

Ganter looked at Chimera, and she said to him, "Well, I guess your cover is blown, might as well tell him, we don't need more fighting right now."

Ganter looked back at Jin, and taking a deep breath, said, "Alright, Jin, I'm not a true dark dragon. I came from another dimension, I think, and I was originally an ice dragon, but Chimera disguised me so I could hide here in plain sight."

Jin looked at Ganter as if he was insane, "Are you done lying?"

Ganter backed away slowly, "I'm not lying. I really was an ice dragon, and somehow I ended up here, in this place full of dark dragons, and so Chimera turned me into a dark dragon so you guys wouldn't kill me."

Jin made a noncommital hum, "I guess you are telling the truth, but maybe I should still kill you."

"Why do you want to kill us?" Ganter said fearfully.

"Because _he_ told me to, if I didn't, then he'd kill me, and you two as well." Jin said, fearing the other dark dragon.

Ganter gulped, "You came here to kill us just because some other dragon told you to?"

Jin nodded, thinking more about that dragon than of killing right now, "You don't know what he is capable of, he can't be beaten."

"No one is truly invinicible, I'm sure we could take him." Ganter replied.

"W … we?" Jin asked, his fear of the pitch black dragon was immense.

"Yeah, we, but I guess that the concept of working together isn't something you are used to. Chimera told me about how you guys like to be alone, but it doesn't help." Ganter looked at Chimera, whom was keeping her eyes on Jin, ready if he attacked.

Chimera then spoke up, "Why don't we just continue this back at my cave, I guess you could come too, Jin."

Jin blinked; he really didn't know what to think of all of this. All he wanted to do was to get back to his brother; he hoped he wasn't killed in his absence, "I guess I still have questions, but don't blame me if we all die." And so, they flew out of the underground city, back up to the market.

(I will get back to Careena and Nuevo in the next part. Any questions or comments?)


	5. Chapter 5

(Well, hasn't this been quick for updating. The scene shifts back to the sibs here. Oh, to Yorkmanic88, Jin cynical? Naw, as Chimera said earlier, dark dragons of that dimension aren't exactly the most friendly type of dragons. They prefer to stick to themselves or their sole family member. Not to mention the fact that Ganter isn't a normal resident there. Also, to clear one thing up that might have caught someone's eye, there are two things that scare Jin, the undead, and the pitch black dragon whose name will appear in the next part.)

Part 5 –

Back with Careena and Nuevo, they stood at the entrance of a collapsed cave; the four guardians stood behind them. They had flown to an ancient vault that had imploded long ago; and was in a secure section of Warfang.

"One last time, are you two sure about this?" Ignitus asked.

"Yeah, so what was the deal with this vault again?" Careena replied.

"Well, this place used to be where we stored all kinds of artifacts and other enchanted objects; it is basically our magical treasury." Volteer explained.

"Yes, if I remember right, one time, during the war, one of the artifacts stored here imploded, causing this to collapse." Cyril continued.

"One last time, do you wish to enter? I can use my powers to try and open the entrance, but I can't guarantee that the rest of the vault will be safe." Terrador said.

Careena and Nuevo nodded, and so Terrador altered the earth, allowing for an entrance, "Do move quickly, I can't keep this open forever."

Careena and Nuevo hurried inside; after the initial tunnel, which had been the area of collapse, they could tell that the vault had been rather tidy before the implosion. The duo soon reached a chamber with magically lit torches.

Careena looked around; while there was scattered rubble around them, the inner part of the vault looked almost fancy, "I'm surprised that it's just the tunnel that caved in."

Nuevo saw something shiny by a pile of rocks, "Hey, it's some kind of ring." He grabbed the ring in his right paw; it was blue with a clear gem in it, "Think it's enchanted?"

"Let me see." Careena said, taking the gem and putting it on one of her talons. But then, the ice dragoness started to fade from view.

Nuevo's heart leapt, "Careena, where are you? Are you even still here?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Careena's voice came from nereby.

Nuevo literally jumped, "Where are you, I can't see you." He looked around frantically.

Unbeknownst to him, Careena blinked, "What …" She then figured it out; it was the ring. Taking it off, she then turned visible again, scaring Nuevo even more, "It must turn the wearer invisible." She explained.

Nuevo had to take a minute to slow his racing heart, "Think we can take it with us?"

Careena thought about that for a minute, "Well, the guardians never said we couldn't, so sure. But one question, what are we going to carry it in?"

"I could just put it in the folds of my wing until then." Nuevo suggested, spreading his right wing.

They did so and continued on; looking all around at various objects, and Nuevo eventually asked, "How will we know when we find this artifact?"

"Ignitus told me, it's supposed to look like a mirror." Careena replied, and then something caught her eyes. A gold helmet with a blue gem in it rested up against a rock wall. As much as she wanted to put it on, it was obvious that the helmet had been designed for male dragons, "Hey Nuevo, why don't you try and see if it fits?"

Nuevo walked over and tried to put it on, but the helmet was too big for him, and kept on slipping off, "Maybe it would fit Ganter, let's take it." Nuevo pondered, holding the helmet with his tail.

"Let's try not to take much more, we won't have the room." Careena said, walking on.

"You mean, I won't have the room." Nuevo said, having the ring in his wing membrane, and the helmet held by his tail, as he walked alongside his sister.

The duo soon came to a dead end, or so it seemed. The rock wall looked fragile and ready to fall if attacked. Careena looked at Nuevo, and then proceeded to fire a blast of solid ice at the wall, which caused it the crumble. When it did, they were surprised to find what was on the other side of it; several skeletons of dragons fell to the ground, and the bones scattered.

Careena shrieked, and Nuevo started to run away, and Nuevo had accidently dropped the helmet and ring when he did so. It took them a few minutes to calm down and look back, and when the duo did so, they breathed a sigh of relief; the skeletons were just that, skeletons.

Taking a deep breath, Careena said, "Well, that was scary, come on, the artifact should be around here somewhere."

Nuevo walked after her shakily, picking up the ring and helmet in the process. He took a quick look at the skeletal dragons as he walked by, and the duo soon walked past the ex-dead-end. On the other side, Careena saw a sack that must have been used by someone who failed to rob this place.

"Looks like we have our way of getting a bunch of the stuff." Careena beamed, gesturing at the sack.

Nuevo gladly dropped his contents into the sack and grabbed it instead with his tail. However, something happened; the skeletons had begun to glow with a ghostly white aura, and rose to their undead feet.

"Umm, sis?" Nuevo said, dropping the sack, and backing away. However, there were skeletal dragons behind him too.

"Nuevo, if we don't make it out alive, I just want you to know that you're an awesome brother." Careena said fearfully.

Careena and Nuevo backed away to a wall, not sure if they could fight off the dozen skeletons surrounding them. Nuevo's paw tripped or something, and he fell on his tail. He saw that it was some sort of wing armor; red with blue streaks in the middle of each wing and in a circle along the area of where it would be on his back. He looked at Careena, whom had created a wall of ice to temporary keep the skeletons at bay. Nuevo put the armor on quickly; it was a good fit for him, and it was also lightweight. The armor covered both sides of his wings and the space on his back, and was flexible.

"It looks good on you." Careena remarked, but kept her sight on the ice wall, which was started to get overwhelmed by the skeletal dragons.

"We're going to have to fight them, aren't we?" Nuevo asked with a gulp.

"I think so." Careena braced herself as the wall came down now that she was ready, and then the skeletons came at them.

Careena ducked as one leapt at her and she impaled it with her tail, and the swung it at another, causing the two the crash in a pile of bones. She breathed ice at two more, freezing them. When two more came at her, she readied her horns and tossed them into the air, causing them to crash into the ceiling and fall back down.

Nuevo had covered himself with his wings, hoping his new armor would help him. The attacks never came, and he peaked out to see why; the skeletons were being kept at bay by an invisible force field. That must have been what made this armor magical, and he looked to see Careena freeze the remaining skeletons.

"That was easier than I thought it would. Why was I ever scared?" Careena said triumphantly.

"Let's just not come across anymore." Nuevo said pleadingly.

Careena wasn't paying attention; she had spotted an interesting artifact of her own. It was a sort of covering for a dragoness's tail tip. It looked a white-silver spear to be fit along her slender tail, and it had three yellow lines traveling from the point to the end of the covering.

"I'm going to take this if you won't mind." Careena said, and then put it into the sack as well as Nuevo's new armor.

They had eventually turned a corner, and in a room was a giant mirror. The mirror had a gold rim with a black gem-shape on its base.

"Is this is?" Nuevo gazed up at the mirror.

"I think so." Careena replied.

"What do you think that gem thing is right there?" Nuevo pointed at the black gem-shape.

"Maybe that's what activates it." Careena guessed, and then walked up to the mirror.

"So how do we activate it?" Nuevo walked up beside her.

Having a guess, Careena placed a paw on the gem and said, "Show us where Ganter is."

The mirror shimmered and then showed an image; Ganter was in a meadow, and he wasn't alone.

(the climatic battle in the next part.)


	6. Chapter 6

(wow, this is a long chapter, but quite thrilling. About the artifacts, yeah, I have plans for those to appear in future stories. But sorry, I haven't any known references that I put in here. Oh, I wonder if you guys might see the connection between a couple of things here, aka the environment with the sibs, and with the dark dragons.)

Part 6 –

Ganter flew next to Chimera with Jin on his other side. He wasn't sure whether he could trust the assassin, but Jin seemed alright to him. They soon arrived at the meadow of Chimera's cave.

Looking around, Chimera eventually asked, "Looks safe enough; Ganter, do you want me to turn you back to normal?" Jin perked up hearing this, as he was curious about the deal was with Ganter.

Ganter had almost forgotten about that, "Most certainly, I can't wait to get back home." On the inside, he was starting to feel as if this could be his home, and yet, each time he remembered Careena and Nuevo, he knew he couldn't stay.

Chimera walked back over to Ganter and resummoned her feathered wings, which she had undone before arriving at the market, and she once again placed a paw on Ganter's belly. Unlike the last time, shadows weren't surrounding him, but instead flowing away from him.

Once the shadows disappeared into Chimera, Jin gasped, "By the Eternal Night, it's true, you really aren't from this world."

To make sure he was him again, Ganter tried to breath out some ice, and succeeded, creating a small mirror, "Yup, I'm the good old Ganter again." He said with a chuckle.

"This changes everything we know, not even the oldest legends have told of a dragon other than dark here." Jin said, still stunned.

"Maybe that's because I'm from some other dimension, or such," Ganter turned to Chimera, and finally having a chance to ask about her wings, "I haven't ever heard of a dragon that can create feathers on their wings, how do you do that?"

Chimera blushed, "Oh, it's supposed to be some sort of symbol of my skills in my powers. I usually create these dark blue feathers when im going into battle or unleashing a powerful spell."

Ganter nodded, understanding, "So I guess that amulet can send me home?"

"I guess, but I'm not sure, it might take me a little bit to figure out how to work it." Chimera looked down at that amulet, which still didn't swing with each of her movements.

Just then, a dragon walked out from behind a tree, "What's this, a trio of dragons planning something? And one of them doesn't even belong here."

Ganter and his dark dragons friends jumped at hearing the voice, and Jin backed away slowly, saying, "No, not you."

Chimera also had fear in her voice, "No, it can't be you, I remember you, you … you killed," Chimera voice cracked, "you're the dragon who killed my sister, Celeste. You're Nothung."

Ganter took a good look at Nothung; this dragon was pure black, his eyes were red, and at the end of his tail was a long, heavy, sword-like tip, of which was raised menacingly. Nothung gave a wicked smile as he walked closer to them, "Thanks, it's good to know I'm feared."

Jin instantly bolted away from the meadow, flying in the direction of the market. Chimera continued to back away, remembering the day she found Celeste lying on the grass dead, "Why did you kill her?"

Nothung looked at the remaining two and said, "Because you two were such a happy duo; you even helped visitors if they accepted. That is something I cannot allow, and so, I decided to kill Celeste to weaken you. It appeared to be working, but then," Nothung glared at Ganter, "you came along, abnomaly."

Ganter growled, "My name is Ganter, and what gives you the right to kill someone just because they were nice?"

"The right? I do it because as long as I am alive, I will rule with fear and power, and if you are in my way, you're my next victim." Nothung slammed his tail on the ground, creating a tremor and shattering the nearby ground.

"You're sick." Ganter said, keeping his distance.

"No, I'm evil, as you might call it. Only the strongest deserve to live. Oh, would you believe I'm the one who trained Jin? That's why he knows better than to fight me. And then there was Gladius and Kalut, I'm the one who got them angry with each other." Nothung replied, continuing to walk to them.

Ganter gulped, "You've ruined all these lives just because you don't like people being nice or living with others?"

"That is correct. I believe you should run," Nothung said to Ganter, and then looked at Chimera, "a death can get messy."

Before Ganter could react, Chimera leapt at Nothung, enraged, and with her claws extended to their fullest. However, Nothung swung the flat side of his blade at Chimera with enough force that it sent her crashing into a tree, half-conscious.

Nothung gave out a laugh, "Looks like you are all on your own, care to fight me just to protect your 'friend'?"

Nothung truly was a deadly dragon, Ganter had noticed, but he had never thought there could be someone so wicked and cruel, "If that's what it takes to keep Chiemra and everyone else safe from you, then so be it." He said as bravely as he could.

Nothung grinned evilly, and readied his sword-like tail as he paced around Ganter, "Show me what an ice dragon can do."

Ganter kept his eyes on Nothung, and fired a blast of ice energy, but the pitch-black dragon rolled out of the way, firing his own elemental blast. It hit Ganter hard, and he was knocked back, but before Nothung could deliver another blow, Ganter swung his tail at the dark dragon. It was parried by Nothung's sword-like tail tip, but Ganter opened his snout and let out another blast of ice, freezing Nothung's left wing. Nothung didn't back away though; he continued to push Ganter back with his tail, and then, something strange happened. A dark gray aura surrounded the two of them, and Ganter was knocked back as if Nothung had become stronger. The aura disappeared as they stopped making physical contact, but it almost seemed as if Nothung was still stronger.

"What … what was that?" Ganter asked as he got back up.

"That was the reason no one can beat me. As long as I am facing only one opponent, I can use my power to become equal to them in strength." Nothung said, advancing on Ganter again.

Ganter backed away with a realization; that power was the reason why Nothung wanted everyone to be alone; as long as Nothung was facing only one dragon, he truly was invincible. _And I'm all alone_, Ganter thought, looking at the still half-conscious body of Chimera.

He began to pray that he would survive, but he then remembered his siblings , _hold up, I'm never alone. As long as I know they are with me, I can still fight_, "I won't give up, I have family, and they will not lose me!" Ganter said as he unleashed a barrage of ice spears.

However, Nothung disappeared in a puff of shadow energy, no doubt using it to dodge Ganter's attacks. Nothung appeared behind Ganter and swung his tail, but Ganter ducked out of way and fired a blast of ice at the ground. He had hoped for Nothung to slip on it, but the dark dragon disappeared in another puff of smoke.

Ganter wondered if he could stall long enough for Chimera to regain consciousness and help him out, and as luck would have it, Chimera had shakenly gotten back on her paws. However, before she could run over to help him, Nothung appeared out of the shadows, and lunged at him, fangs bared wide.

Ganter almost felt as if his entire life flashed through his mind; he could almost remember the day he had hatched, the day his parents died, the day Nuevo hatched, and the day they had reunited with Careena at Warfang. Ganter instantly closed his eyes and prepared for the end, _I'm sorry brother and sister_, but the attack never came. He opened his eyes to see Jin intercept the attack and get thrown near Chimera. Ganter would have smiled if he weren't in a life and death battle; Jin had saved him just like he had saved Jin.

Taking the chance, Ganter ran over to his new friends, and the three of them stood next to each other, "Thanks for saving me Jin."

Jin looked at him, "It was the sensible thing to do, I was returning the favor."

Nothung had appeared in the center of the meadow, "Isn't that sweet, three friends willing to protect each other; you still can't beat me."

Jin spoke up, "It's high time I stopped running from you, and everyone else for that matter. We won't let you and your tyranny live another day."

Nothung laughed, "It's about time you faced your fears. But the three of you still aren't enough to defeat me, it would take an army to stop my might!"

"And an army is just what I brought." Jin said, gesturing all around them as numerous dark dragons ran up the hills and through the trees.

Chimera blinked, "How did you convince them all to come, and so fast?"

Jin looked at Chimera, "I used my shadow form to get there and back quickly enough, as for convincing them, I just told them what they needed to hear; that there was a dragon who we needed to get rid of. To be honest, I was originally thinking of just hiding, but …" Jin then looked at Ganter, "I guess we aren't better off alone after all." Jin wasn't about to tell them that he could teleport.

"We can do this? There hasn't exactly been a time where people have stood up against a common enemy." Chimera said skeptically.

Ganter grinned, walking over to Nothung, whom was looking all around him, but first, he said to Jin and Chimera to ease their doubts, "_That's the problem with your world, they only fight for themselves, but if you have friends and family that you are fighting for, then you can do anything."_

With those words, Ganter felt something well up from deep within his body; a sort of power he never felt before. It was as if he had been filled with the positive emotions of a thousand hopeful dragons. It was a sort of energy that made him feel unstoppable, and Ganter let loose a roar as a vibrant rainbow-colored aura exploded out from him. And then a mysterious voice spoke through his head, use this power wisely, it will only come in times of dire situations, the power of the hopes of many flows through you.

Ganter didn't know what was happening, but he liked it, and said to Nothung, "I think you should run."

Most of the dark dragon who had arrived stayed back; Jin didn't tell them that it was Nothung that they were to chase out. Seeing the ice dragon and that multicolored aura surrounding him, they wondered if they might finally be free of the pitch black dragon. It was strange; the dragon they all feared was fighting a dragon that they knew nothing about.

"Get him!"

"Chase him out!"

"Do what we haven't!"

"Make him wish he was never hatched!"

As the growing crowd roared out their demands, Nothung looked around, "Fine, all of you will die!" He fixed his eyes on Ganter, whom continued to glow with that aura.

Under the influence of this strange power, the main thought going through Ganter's head was that he would fight on the behalf of everyone whose life had been ruined by Nothung, "No one is scared of you now, all of your power is useless."

Nothung narrowed his eyes at Ganter, "It's all your fault, if only you had kept out of everything, no one would think to challenge me, but now, they actually think they have a chance to stop me. Well, once I kill you, they will see the mistake of challenging me." Nothung lunged at Ganter, but this time, the ice dragon side-stepped and swung his tail, knocking the dark dragon down.

Ganter felt ecstatic; it was quite a rush having this power, and he wished that he knew just what it was. When Nothung fired a blast of shadow energy, he countered with a blast of ice, which had a faint glow of the rainbow-aura, and it overwhelmed Nothung's attack easily. Nothung rolled out of the way of the ice and transformed into a shadow as he went for Ganter. Ganter moved out of the way before the dark dragon could get a bite of him, and charged with his horns. When he connected with Nothung, he lifted his head and horns to toss the dark dragon away. Nothung roughly landed on his paws; looking at a nearby dark dragon whose meancing growls did little to keep the pitch black dragon away. Nothung attempted to kill said dark dragon, but with undraconic speed, Ganter tackled Nothung away before another life could be stolen by the evil dragon. Sprawling on the ground, Nothung's dark gray aura seemed to have its own fight against Ganter's new rainbow aura. Nothung pushed Ganter off of him and got back on his paws, and Ganter did the same.

"I don't know how you are doing this, but I can't be beaten, after all, no one else has made an attack on me. In other words, you are still alone." Nothung growled.

With authority, Ganter said, "I'm never alone. Even when I may look like I'm alone, have my family and friends wherever they are ready to back me up. Just look around you Nothung, everyone is here, ready to stand up against you, and I will fight for them as much as I would anyone else."

"Enough with your speaches," Nothung said angrily, and swung the edge of his sword-like tail at Ganter. It made contact, and sent the ice dragon crashing across the ground, but Ganter refused to give up, getting back onto his paws. Nothung gasped, "How can you survive that? I should have cut clean through you."

Ganter's scales seemed to be extra-reinforced; there wasn't much more than a scratch on the ice dragon as he got back up, "I won't be beaten by someone like you. You fight for yourself, but I fight for everyone." A fire blazed in Ganter's eyes; a fire glowing with the same rainbow-colors as his new aura.

With magical energy, Ganter rose into the air as his aura began to become bigger. Also, the same aura began to flow from the other dragons in the meadows and over to Ganter; taking the appearance of dozens of streams as they converged into the ice dragon.

Nothung looked around as every other dragon here seemed to be surrounded by this strange light, flowing into Ganter, "I don't know what you are doing, but it won't work."

Ganter took a deep breath and closed his eyes; it was just like the voice had told him; everyone had hope for a better future, and Nothung had no place in it. The feeling within him was something that must be used to create those bright futures, and Ganter opened his eyes. When he opened his snout to let his ice breath out, it instead was a flame of the same sort as his aura. The rainbow-colored fireball sped its way to Nothung, knocking him away, beyond the ring of dark dragons in the meadow.

Ganter flew over to Nothung, whom appearently looked burned by the flames. Nothung got back on his paws, and Ganter prepared for round three, but instead, Nothung had started to back away, "You … you haven't seen the last of me." Nothung then turned around and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Chimera landed next to him, "You are truly amazing. I had never seen such a power before."

Ganter's aura started to fade away, "To be honest, neither have I, its completely new to me as well."

"That just makes you all the more interesting." Chimera said, pecking his cheek with a small kiss.

Ganter looked at Chimera, surprised, and his heart started to flutter, "I … uh, um, thanks."

Meanwhile, Jin and the other dark dragons had left, going in their own directions, but now, each and eveyone of them had learned something by watching Ganter fight; strength in numbers was a good thing, and so was living with others.

Chimera and Ganter locked eyes; ice-blue meeting red, and Chimera said, "So, I guess now is the time for you to go home?"

"I thought you still had to figure the amulet out?" Ganter asked.

"I do, but I'll be with you until then, and I guess you'll be with me?" Chimera said hopefully.

"Right, in fact, Chimera, I have something to tell you." Ganter replied.

"Yes?" Chimera had a thought about what he was going to say.

Ganter took a deep breath before speaking, "Chimera, I think I'm in love with you."

Chimera blinked slowly, having expected those words, but not being prepared to hear them, but before she could reply, Ganter started to fade from view; his body disappearing from right in front of her. "G … Ganter? Ganter!" Chimera said, starting to panic as she frantically looked around for the dragon who had changed her life.

Several minutes ago, back with Careena and Nuevo; they had seen enough. They had seen Ganter's entire fight with Nothung, and the two of them were amazed that something so powerful lied deep inside their brother.

Keeping her paw on the black gem space, "Careena said, "Bring Ganter to us." Four flaps unfolded from behind the mirror, evenly spaced in an 'x' shape. The flaps each had a dark red gem within them, and each gem glowed brightly with red light. Soon, the red light began to fill the room, and the two siblings had to close their eyes from the bright light, and Careena thought, _I hope this works._

(Okay, so what do you guys think about this so far? Like with how twisted Nothung is, or Ganter's new power, of which is what makes him so unique as my top OC. Oh, for a good look at what that rainbow-aura is like, just look at the profile pic/avatar/whatever you want to call it. Hopefully, I haven't forgotten anything, the epilogue should be up within a week.)


	7. Chapter 7

(Well, here it is, the finale of A darkness and the ice family. It must have been quite shocking to see Ganter yanked away from Chimera, but it was for the best. More below.)

Part 7 –

Chimera sat on the grassy ground, sulking in her sorrow. While she had her thoughts about Ganter, it hadn't really occurred to her about loving him. But now that she thought about it, the ice dragon had practically enchanted her. Chimera sighed, "Why did he have to leave without a proper goodbye?"

She also wondered how Ganter had been teleported; it had to be the work of someone else, maybe that family he had told her about. Getting back on her paws, she walked back to her cave, tail dragging on the ground. When she got near it, Chimera saw something gleaming on the ground, and she walked over to investigate it. While it was small, she instantly figured out what it was; an ice-blue scale that continued to glow in that rainbow-colored aura. Chimera guessed it was Ganter's, and that it must have been chipped off when Nothung had tried to use his sword-tail to cut clean through Ganter. Picking it up carefully in the palm of her left paw, she took a good look at the hypnotic swirl of colors, and then, the scale disappeared in a flash of red. For a moment, she was shocked, but then remembered something; she had a pocket dimension, and guessed that she had subconsciously put it in there. She looked down at her amulet, and felt something within her; maybe it was the scale, or maybe it was the love she had for Ganter, and so her amulet flashed red and a portal appeared in front of her. She was relatively shocked, but glad too. She looked at the red portal, taking a deep breath, said, "Ganter, I'm coming to find you," and walked on through, hoping to find the ice dragon on the other side.

Meanwhile, the bright red flash subsided, and Careena blinked her eyes to see that not only was Nuevo still with her, but now, Ganter stood on the ground next to them, but he seemed to be in shock.

Ganter blinked his eyes rapidly; one moment he was talking to Chimera, and the next, he was in a cavern, and the shock was enough so that he didn't notice his brother and sister staring at him.

Nuevo, worried about Ganter's blank stare, said, "Ganter? Are you there?"

Ganter had hardly heard him, in his mind, he was still trying to process what had happened; it was so sudden.

Careena frowned, and she tackled Ganter to the ground, "Hello?"

Ganter blinked again, realizing about his surroundings, "What did you do that for? Wait, Careena? Careena!" He cried out happily now that he took notice to what was going on, hugging his sister.

"It's about time you noticed us, what happened to you? You were gone for an entire day!" Careena said, slightly scolding him.

"Sorry about that, I don't really know all the details myself." Ganter said as they got back on their paws.

"We saw you in the mirror." Nuevo replied, gesturing at the giant mirror, "It also brought you here."

Ganter blinked as he took a long look at the artifact, "Wow, well, that answers one question, but what did you guys see?"

"Only you just being awesome," Nuevo said admiringly, "you were fighting off this pitch black dragon and you started to glow with like every color imaginable, and there was like a bunch of other dark dragons there, and they looked like they were cheering you on. So epic!"

Ganter blinked, but his younger brother's ethusiasm got him to start smiling, "You really saw that fight?"

"Every second, good speaches bro." Careena replied.

"Uhh thanks, but did you see what happened after that?" Ganter asked.

"Only just a dark dragoness flying over to you, is she someone important?" Careena said, implying that there was something going on between them.

Ganter started to blush through his scales, "I … uh, yeah, she helped me out, and she … uh … well." He was at a loss for words, embarressed.

"Don't worry, we get it." Careena replied, amused.

"Get what?" Nuevo asked.

His older siblings looked at each other, "When you get older, we'll tell you." Ganter said.

Nuevo only sighed, having heard that statement before, and Ganter then asked, having took a look around the cavern, "So, where are we?"

"This is a vault under Warfang, it had collapsed some time ago, but Terrador is helping keep this open long enough for us to get." Careena explained, and then said, remembering, "By the ancestors, I almost forgot about that, come on, we have to get moving!"

Nuevo, hurrying, picked up a few other artifacts and put it in the sack; Ganter assumed that he was allowed to. Just then, a piece of rock chipped off from the ceiling and hit Careena on her head, but not causing any damage, "Ow."

"What is it?" Ganter asked, grabbing the sack from his brother and carrying it himself.

"A piece of rock … hit me on the head." Careena said, eyes widening as she realized what was happening, "The skeletal dragons I had tossed up at the ceiling … oh no, now we **have **to get out of here."

_Skeletal dragons?_ Ganter's mind flashed back to when he, Chimera, and Jin had fought some of those in that underground city. Just then, more rocks started to fall down from the roof, "Come on! Or else we'll be buried alive!" Careena said, starting to run.

Ganter gulped, the vault was collapsing! Holding the sack of artifacts with his tail, he bolted alongside his siblings as they dodged rocks falling all around them. It took them a few minutes, but they soon saw the entrance, and lept outside, just in time for the vault to collapse more, dispite Terrador's will.

"Oh my, young dragons, are you alright?" Terrador gasped, seeing the trio crash to the ground, and he let go of his control of the tunnel, of which caused the rest of the vault to collapse.

"Now that was too close for comfort." Ganter said, dusting himself off.

Careena gulped, looking back at the vault, and said to her brothers, "Are you alright?"

"Just peachy." Ganter replied, looking back at the sack, which had gotten a few hoels, but nothing had come out yet.

"Sore, i've never felt scared." Nuevo said next, getting up.

Ignitus noticed Ganter first, "It looks like you've succeeded. What happened to you, Ganter?"

"I only just took a trip to another dimension and helped a dark dragoness fight off a deadly evil dragon." Ganter replied nonchalently.

"He's telling the truth, believe it or not." Careena remarked.

"I see, well, what have you got in the sack, young ones?" Cyril asked.

"Well, we were thinking, that since you said nothing about being able to collect some of the stuff inside, we thought it would be alright to take some home." Nuevo said.

The four guradians looked at ecah other and began whispering to each other; afterwards, Ignitus said to the trio, "I guess it's alright. You did just risk your lives going in there, so it should be fine for you to take some trophies home. And since we haven't tried to recover the objects ourselves, it should be alright for you to own them now. But, we will want to know what you've obtained."

The siblings nodded, and Ganter said, "You've got a deal."

The next day, Ganter breathed in the fresh air outside his cabin. Inside, Careena and Nuevo were testing out a couple of the artifacts they had collected, but Ganter wanted to go outside to think about what had happened in the last day. The three of them had also learned about how to create a pocket dimension thanks to the guardians, so now they could carry the objects with them easily. All of his thoughts cycled back to Chimera, "I hope she's alright." Ganter looked up at the blue sky, and the shining sun; he doubted that this adventure would be something he'd forget anytime soon. Just then, a breeze blew through; it was cooling and calming, and then, something came with it.

A dark blue feather drifted down from the sky and landed next to Ganter's paws, and a faint voice said, "I'm coming to find you."

Ganter looked around; everything else looked normal, and then, after delicately holding the feather, he looked back up the sky, and said, "I'll be waiting, Chimera, I'll be right here when you find me."

(So, what do you think, wasn't that quite the ending? Don't worry, there is a sequel, two actually. A shadow and the ice family, and A darkness and the first dimension. Oh, the artifacts will appear in other "ice family" stories, but not all of them.)


End file.
